Kyrgyzstan voters back parliamentary democracy

Kyrgyzstan has voted to create Central Asia's first parliamentary democracy, amid warnings from Russia that the move could allow extremists to seize power following ethnic violence that killed hundreds.

Uzbek refugees line up around an armored vehicle with Uzbek soldiers in the southern Kyrgyz city of Osh while waiting to cross the border into Uzbekistan, near the border with Uzbekistan. Some thousands of refugees have fled the pogrom that began last week in southern Kyrgyzstan.Photo: AP Photo/Faruk Akkan

7:00AM BST 28 Jun 2010

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, whose country shares US fears about Islamist militancy in Central Asia, said the political system resulting from the Kyrgyz referendum could eventually cause the country to collapse.

At least 283 people, and possibly hundreds more, died this month in violence between ethnic Kyrgyz and Uzbeks in southern Kyrgyzstan, a former Soviet republic which hosts US and Russian military air bases and shares a border with China.

Official results of the referendum showed that with almost all votes counted, 90.8 per cent of voters had backed a new constitution paving the way for October parliamentary elections.

Only 7.9 per cent had voted against, according to preliminary data collected from 2,190 of the country's 2,319 polling stations, or 94.4 per cent, the Central Election Commission said on its website.

Interim leader Roza Otunbayeva, speaking on Sunday night before the first results were known, said Kyrgyzstan - which lies on a major drug trafficking route out of Afghanistan - had embarked on a path to establishing a "true people's democracy".

But Mr Medvedev, speaking after a Group of 20 summit in Toronto, pointed out that Kyrgyz authorities could not impose order at present.

"I do not really understand how a parliamentary republic would look and work in Kyrgyzstan," he said.

"Will this not lead to a chain of eternal problems - to reshuffles in parliament, to the rise to power of this or that political group, to authority being passed constantly from one hand to another, and, finally, will this not help those with extremist views to power?" he said.

"In its current state, there are a host of scenarios for Kyrgyzstan, including the most unpleasant scenario - going up to the collapse of the state," Mr Medvedev said.

His remarks contrasted strongly with Moscow's support for Kyrgyzstan's new government after an April 7 uprising that overthrew President Kurmanbek Bakiyev.

Ms Otunbayeva's interim government that took power after the revolt sees Sunday's referendum as a mandate to proceed with its reforms, paving the way to formal diplomatic recognition.

Under the new charter, Ms Otunbayeva - the first woman to lead a Central Asian state - will be acting president until the end of 2011. Parliamentary elections will be held every five years and the president limited to a single six-year term.